Soft flute music played over the speakers at Forest Charms. It was late morning and Iris stood behind the wooden counter, surveying her shop as a couple of customers browsed the shelves. The shoppers seemed pretty well occupied and had already said they didn’t need any help. So Iris turned away from them and looked […]

Noah sat in his living room, sipping whiskey and listening to music. He’d worked the lunch shift at Keegan’s after doing some odd jobs for a couple of the ladies down at the general store this morning. Now he was sore, tired, and perfectly content to sit alone in his apartment. The living room was […]

“Eat in penne alfredo up! Two large breadsticks for delivery! Charlie, delivery is all set!” It was the very beginning of the dinner rush at New Winslow House of Pizza. Roman was on the grill, tossing up orders and restocking before things got busy. Charlie picked up two large boxes of fragrant breadsticks, sliding them […]

Cleo wasn’t entirely sure whose house the party was at. But she’d been here for hours already, and it was winding down. Now it was about midnight and she was pleasantly buzzed, sitting on the couch beside Andrew in a living room full of people. Some of them she knew, but some were total strangers. […]

The air was sharp and filled with the scent of pine trees as Iris made her way down State Road 122. It was mid-morning, maybe nine or so, and she wanted to collect a few pine boughs before it was time to open the shop. There was a little spot in the woods, just over […]

The bass rattled in Andrew’s chest as he picked his way through the mass of bodies, his beer carefully cradled in his hand. The band on stage was playing something sludgy and hard, music that seemed to drip from the speakers and coat the audience in its sound. This wasn’t Andrew’s usual scene and this […]

The jukebox blared over the sound of the crowd in Keegan’s Pub, announcing the unofficial start to another weekend. The first chords of some nineties country song – in rotation since it was a chart-topper – blasted out into the small, crowded bar and blended with the sounds of clattering dishes and rowdy conversation. It […]